# Intent first: pages that start from what the person wants to do

`intent-12.obz`, `intent-20.obz`, `intent-40.obz`, built from
`phrases/sources/intent.yaml`. Shared conventions:
[DESIGN-phrases-common.md](DESIGN-phrases-common.md).

## Where the idea comes from, and what is ours

Pragmatically organised communication books — the best known is PODD, by
Gayle Porter (PODD® and its templates © Gayle Porter) — start each message
from its purpose (to tell, to ask, to complain, to request) rather than from
a category of words, branch predictably from there, carry operational
commands on every page, and are built to be used on paper with a partner as
well as on a device. Those *principles* are published practice (report
§2.2). The PODD name, templates, page layouts, wording and page names are
not used here, and nothing on any board is named after it. Every page, page
name, word list, position and colour in this set was written for this
project. (The app's old "PODD-inspired" label in `defaults.rs` should go, as
the report says; it is not this set.)

## Start from the purpose

The **Start** page holds the intents. Each intent says its opening words and
opens the page with the rest:

| Intent | Says | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| I want to tell you something | "I want to tell you something." | Tell: what kind of news, about whom, where, when; "Guess!", "Ask me questions to find out." |
| Something's wrong | "Something's wrong." | Wrong: it hurts → body; I feel sick → symptoms; something's broken → what and how; how bad; help, stop, too hot / cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, bathroom, someone is bothering me, … |
| I have a question | "I have a question." | Question words and common questions; "Can I …?" → things to do |
| I want something | "I want" | Want: to eat → food; to drink → drinks; to go → places; to do something → things to do; someone → people; a thing → things; more, help, a break, a hug, to rest, to stop, … |
| Let's chat | — | Chat: greetings, comments, turn-taking, "Tell me more." |
| I want to go somewhere | "I want to go" | Places |
| Let's do something | "Let's" | Things to do |
| How I feel | "I feel" | Feelings |
| Yes, no, maybe · When · Describe it · People | — | the matching pages |
| More words | — | an index of every word page |

So "I want" + "to eat" + "an apple" builds *I want to eat an apple*;
"Something's wrong." + "It hurts." + "my head" + "A lot." builds the
complaint a partner needs. A link that also says words uses the proposed
`ext_aurasense_link_says` (the words go into the message, then the page
opens). Until the app has it, the link opens the page and the page's words
carry the message.

**Predictable branches.** "Something's wrong" always leads the same way:
*It hurts* → the body page; *I feel sick* → feeling-sick messages;
*Something's broken* → the broken things and "It's not working.", "It's
stuck.", "It needs charging.", "Please fix it."; *How bad* → a little / a
lot / very bad / getting worse or better / comes and goes. Branches never
loop back to a different place: after a body part, the popup closes and the
person is back on "Something's wrong", where *How bad* is.

## Operational commands, in the same place on every page

Each size has a **frame**: the commands, in the same cells of every page,
coloured grey. The test checks that each is in one place throughout a book.

| Size | Grid | Left column, top to bottom | Bottom right |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 3 × 4 | Back to the start · Oops, that's a mistake · I'm finished | Turn the page (when a section continues) |
| 20 | 4 × 5 | Back to the start · Go back · Oops, that's a mistake · I'm finished | Turn the page |
| 40 | 5 × 8 | Back to the start · Go back · Something's wrong · Oops, that's a mistake · I'm finished | Turn the page |

- **Back to the start**: to the Start page (on Start itself, the place stays empty).
- **Go back**: to the page this section is reached from (20 and 40).
- **Something's wrong** (40): so a complaint is one press from anywhere.
- **Oops, that's a mistake**: removes the last word (`:backspace`). On paper, it tells the partner to drop the last thing they said back.
- **I'm finished**: says the whole message (`:speak`). On paper, it tells the partner the message is complete.
- **Turn the page**: to the next page of the same section; on the last page, back to its first. On paper, it is the page-turn signal.

## Popups close after a choice

Pages that complete a message — body, how bad, feeling sick, broken things,
places, food, drinks, things to do, people, feelings, yes/no/maybe, when,
describe it, things — are popups (`ext_aurasense_behaviour.after_choice:
"return"`): after a word is chosen, the app returns to the page that opened
the popup (its continuation pages count as the popup). The person can turn
popups off in their settings (proposed SPEC §2.3), and a person who has
chosen "After a word on another board, go back to Home" (Track A) goes Home
instead. Until the app has it, the popup stays open and the frame's
commands lead on.

## Three sizes from one set of sections

The sections are written once. The generator flows each section's items,
in order, into the cells the frame leaves, row by row, and continues onto
another page when a section is longer than a page. Items marked
`min_size: 20` are left out of the 12-cell book, so the smallest book has
fewer words (and fewer page turns) rather than the same words spread thinly.
Order is priority: the most needed words come first, on the first page.

| | 12 cells | 20 cells | 40 cells |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content cells per page | 9 (8 when continued) | 16 (15) | 35 (34) |
| Pages | 33 | 32 | 21 |
| Cells | 366 | 495 | 468 |

The 40-cell Start page adds 21 single core words (I, you, it, that, here,
want, like, go, get, make, look, put, open, turn, help, stop, more, all, not,
different, good) from the Universal Core vocabulary (CC BY / BY-SA, words
only), so a person can say what no page foresaw.

## A printed book a partner reads from

Each board carries its page number (`ext_aurasense_book.page`: breadth-first
from Start, continuation pages straight after their first page), and each
link the page it leads to (`ext_aurasense_book_goto`), for the printing
track to print as "→ 12". The layout is designed for partner-assisted
scanning:

- **Visual scanning:** the partner points along the rows; the person signals yes at the row, then at the cell. The frame is always the left column, so the partner can skip it or start with it.
- **Auditory scanning:** the partner reads each row aloud, then each choice in the row the person picks. Items are ordered so that a row holds related words (the body page reads head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, throat, neck, chest, …).
- **Eye pointing:** large cells and few per page (12 or 20) suit an E-tran style frame or a book held up.
- The Start page's description says this to the partner in plain words.

The printing track (`aac/printing`) needs only: the boards' `grid.order`,
labels, colours, `ext_aurasense_book.page`, `ext_aurasense_book_goto`, and
the pictures from the English package.

## What a translation cannot fix

The starters build messages in English word order, and each language's
drafter shaped its fragments to survive that (their notes are in
`phrases/translations/<lang>.json`):

- **Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French:** activities are infinitives after "I want" / "Let's"; places carry their preposition ("al parque", "para o parque"); "to" is empty. Remaining seams: contractions (*a el*, *à le*), and a default gender where the next word differs (the themed Health page's French "My" became "Moi," with body words that carry their own possessive, after "Ma" + "ventre" was disputed).
- **German:** verbs are infinitives ("Ich möchte" + "fernsehen"), destinations carry their preposition ("in den Park"); a few starters force a case or verb-final order the next word cannot follow, noted per item.
- **Russian:** feelings follow «Мне» as -о words (грустно, страшно); things are accusative after «Я хочу»; some joins break case agreement and are noted.
- **Chinese:** question starters use the A-not-A form (我能不能 + 去厕所) so they stay questions without a final 吗; place words carry their own verb (回家, 去公园).
- **Japanese:** starters are said first as inverted predicates (ほしいです, 行きたいです) or topics (私は), so a combined message is spoken-inverted Japanese, understandable but not textbook order.
- **Hindi:** verb-final, so combinations are telegraphic; a starter that forces a masculine form (मेरा, कैसा रहा आपका) was accepted where Hindi has no neutral form.
- **Arabic:** feelings are verbal nouns after أشعر بـ; activities are verbal nouns, so "I want to" is أريد and "to" is empty.

Phrase cells (whole messages) do not have the problem. A language's own
intent-first book would order its pages for its own grammar (the object
first, then the want); that is design work for native speakers, best
started from the 12-cell book.

## Not yet

- A keyboard page for spelling (the keyboard track).
- Colour-coded partner-scanning groups beyond the row (e.g. coloured row numbers for "red row, third one"): a printing choice.
- Photo pages for the person's own people and places: two fill-in cells in People now; more once Track B's photos are in.